Benefits of Internship

Tarif Mohammed Khan

There was a generation when people used to study until they completed their graduation or masters. Then, they started  to look for jobs; mostly government jobs! After searching for one or two years they found a job and finally started  their careers. But, those days are gone now. Currently, the job market is really competitive and students are getting prepared for it long ahead. Some do part time jobs to enhance their CV, some even start their own organisation. A fresh graduate can be full of academic knowledge but there is always some gap of skills. And that is where the key word comes in – ‘Internship’.

What is Internship?

Internship – generally defines as an opportunity of work offered by an employer to the students or fresh graduates for gathering experience in the related field of study over a fixed or limited period of time. But, for a graduating student it can be a real window to look out and know the genuine picture of corporate world. Internship can be of any duration staring usually from a week to 12 weeks or even more. There are mainly two types of internship; paid and unpaid. MNC’s, group of companies, institutions, business entities regular offer internship opportunity for different departments of the organization. In recent times; various ad agencies, event management firms, research firms, media houses are offering internship to students or fresh graduates.

Why Internship is needed?

Very simple statement is; internship is needed to enhance own capacity to excel in starting the career of a fresh graduate. An internship can help a lot in many ways to learn significant things about work life. It is a warm up field for any individual to understand whether she/he is liking the profession or not. Some intern positions are a great hub to do quality networking which may help out later on to get jobs and also in career path. After internship, wherever you apply for a job it gives the potential employer a credibility sign about you. And of course; if you perform really well during internship period, it can be the doorstep of your next job immediately!

How to prepare yourself for an internship?
Now you might ask, internship itself is a process to prepare an individual for profession. Then, what is there to be prepared for internship again? But, there are certain things that you must do to prepare yourself to make you eligible to get an internship even! Please focus on your CV first. Make sure you have a good and decent CV with a proper career objective which reflects directly to your desire career path that also matches with your expected internship. Do attend different types of workshop during your undergrad academic life to develop your various soft skills such as leadership, communication, presentation, interpersonal skills and so on. You can do co-curricular activities to acquire those skills easily. You need to have a good command on application software, mainly MS word, MS Excel and MS Power Point. If you are not confident enough with those, do a short course quickly. One must do thing is develop your competence in English language. Remember, your intern supervisor will be there to give you an exposure to  real life job tasks not to develop your basic requirements to be a dynamic employee.
How to find Internship?

There are no certain rule book to find internship. But, there is one big rule – try and try and try! You need to try your best to get an internship which suits your academic knowledge as well as your desire for future career. Therefore, it is always better to start looking for internship 1 semester of at least 2-3 months ahead of your intern semester. Reach out to your seniors, relatives who are working in the relevant fields or any other authentic source you have and let them know that you are looking for internship. Short list at least a good number of companies  you wish to do internship. Write a proper cover letter addressing HR department, attach your updated CV and drop it. They might not offer for internship at the moment you are approaching but you never know openings can come after a few months and that will be exactly your perfect time for joining to do an internship.

Paid Internship VS Unpaid Internship
One dilemma might come before internship is what to choose; paid internship or unpaid one. In my opinion, it should never cloud your thought process. Remember, internship is the best time in your life to learn the basics of job. So, do not consider the payment on internship period. Rather, focus to choose the company how well organized it is and how much scope is there for you to learn as well as apply your knowledge with your learning. If considering all other vital facts; you get a paid internship – that’s a bonus for you. Make sure, you utilize your each day of internship as golden opportunity. Try your best to earn in terms of experience not in terms of money.

Considering factors of a successful internship
A successful internship does not mean only securing a job at that respective company. It has a bigger horizon than this. To do a successful internship you need to focus on a few things; such as:
You need to create a positive impression about yourself to others. Be friendly and maintain a standard corporate liaison with each of the employees, supervisors, officers, managers and other management body officials you meet and get the chance to get introduced. Have an identifying behavior so that people remember you. Send thank you notes to each of your colleagues who help you during your internship period.
Always show that you are eager to learn and optimistic as a person. Try to ask relevant questions whenever you do not understand things. Do not say no to any of the task you are asked for – even simplest task such as making a cup of tea. Keep yourself updated with all the current news of the company such as new promotion, changing of sales technique, any personal good news of colleagues within your reach etc. always remain punctual for meetings; take note and after meeting send a meeting minutes to your supervisor even you are not asked for it. Trust me; that will help you for long run.
A routine task to make your internship fruitful is to maintain contacts. Keep saving the numbers, emails whoever you come across during your internship. You do not know that you will be here after internship period or not but your contacts can be really helpful in other work station too. As you grow up and get promotion your contacts can save you in many ways; Because knowing more person is the strength of solving problems.
Be grateful to the company which has    allowed you to do the internship with it.  Show your gratitude to each person of the company when your internship is done and you may leave. Your positive accomplishment with the company will create a high quality impression about you to the management. That impression can be a click when they need people to hire. Let your supervisor, manager and HR personnel how grateful you are to learn from them and share their knowledge with an excellent letter of thanks giving.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” So, internship is the only process which involves you to real world of work before your struggle starts. It creates the vision of work, responsibility and develops the ability of reality check for corporate life. Therefore, it is really great if you do prepare yourself with a practice match called ‘Internship’ before going to play the World Cup final of ‘Career’; isn’t it? 

Antora Aktar
Executive, Business Development, The Daily Dhakar Dak

“Firstly, on my observation internship experience makes me more marketable in job area.  It’s a crucial part of my resume. It gives me the chance to use the skills that I’ve learned through my educational qualification in a real-world setting. The most important part is now I know my weakness & strength for a better career path. At last I can say that as fresh graduate it helps me to stand out on my new job in a crowd & competitive job market.”

Ms. Suraiya Ferdousi
Jr. Officer, IDLC Finance Limited.

“In February 2015, I received the appointment letter of Internship from IDLC Financial Limited. But little did I know that Internship program in IDLC Finance would open the next chapter in my life. Yes…that internship program of my Bachelor’s degree opened the door of good start of my career. “Will I ever be able to get a job in IDLC after internship?” I thought to myself. Two months later after my internship my thought came into reality. I was called for sitting in  an interview in IDLC for the position of “Junior Officer”. Interview was taken in two phases. After that I was selected for the position requirements and finally became the employee of the organization. It was an initial career story after my graduation. There were few ways to get me going. Some reasons I had found for the success were: Communication: It was the foremost ground for the success, Performance: “Give your best shot”- was the key factor behind the success, Knowledge: Knowledge about the organization made me easier to understand the work culture. I had always tried to maintain above three things and I had believed on attitude, Believe and Confidence.”

Arindam Saha
Brand Service Executive, Bagher Bachcha Digital

We live in a competitive world where finding the right job is extremely challenging without having any job experience. An internship makes this journey easier as employers are usually willing to hire interns with little or no experience due to the little or no monetary compensation. The benefits of doing an internship are great as it adds to the CV and opens the door to more opportunities in the job market. Employers are usually concerned with employee’s experiences more than qualifications, so internship is basically the gateway to the experience required to secure the job. Most jobs require it’s applicants to have an internship or relevant job experience to be qualified and in many of the competitive job markets and is important to set you apart from the rest.
Md. Amirul Islam Khan
Manager – Employee Care Management, ZXY International

For many students, academic life can be quite theoretical and an internship is their first opportunity to apply their knowledge in the real world. The experience will not only help an intern to develop the skills needed to work in the industry; working on real projects for a real organization will also give them the interpersonal skills that they need to work effectively with others — and confidence in their own abilities. Networking is one of the main benefits for internship program. While it is vital to know how to perform the required tasks for a particular job, having a good set of industry contacts behind an intern can be just as vital in helping them find and secure a job after their graduation. It can help them to decide if a particular career is or isn’t for them. It is like test-drive for them. If they don’t enjoy the internship experience then, at the very least, it will have helped them to determine that a particular area isn’t for them. Internships really are a win-win situation for everyone involved. Employers take advantage of low-cost labor and interns can have an idea of the real job market. If it is click for both, then it can be a great start! Happy internship.

Maisha Farzana
Media & PR Executive, Rectangle Communications Ltd.

For me internship is the opportunity for learning as well as developing skills for starting my professional life. I am a student of Media Studies and Journalism at ULAB. I have done my internship in Rectangle Communications. The opportunity of doing intern here is like learning the practical knowledge of my field of study. As my major is Public Relations, I have learned how Public Relations work in order to communicate. Publishing press release in online, print and electronic media and monitoring them is what I have learned is related to my study. The practical implication of PR is quite similar to what I have studied at my graduation level. I have also worked in the back end of the client service department. The part of co-ordination, keeping all the files and maintaining them, providing updates to front end client service department are some of my responsibilities  My educational background as well as my skills what I have developed here helped me getting a job in Rectangle. I was assigned for different works while doing internship. The skill of working in different departments is also a reason for them hiring me. I have worked mainly in three departments. Media & PR, Client Service Department and Research and Development. There are some personal qualities for which I think they have hired me as an employee. Dedication of work, following instruction, process of working, honesty, sincerity for legal and compliances and time management are, I believe, some of my personal qualities which helped me getting a job here.   

 

Benefits of Internship

Tarif Mohammed Khan There was a generation when people used to study until they completed their graduation or masters. Then, they started to look for jobs; mostly government jobs! After searching for one or two years they found a job and finally started their careers. But, those days are gone now. Currently, the job market is really competitive and students are getting prepared for it long ahead. Some do part time jobs to enhance their CV, some even start their own organisation. A fresh graduate can be full of academic knowledge but there is always some gap of skills. And that is where the key word comes in Internship. What is Internship? Internship generally defines as an opportunity of work offered by an employer to the students or fresh graduates for gathering experience in the related field of study over a fixed or limited period of time. But, for a graduating student it can be a real window to look out and know the genuine picture of corporate world. Internship can be of any duration staring usually from a week to 12 weeks or even more. There are mainly two types of internship; paid and unpaid. MNCs, group of companies, institutions, business entities regular offer internship opportunity for different departments of the organization. In recent times; various ad agencies, event management firms, research firms, media houses are offering internship to students or fresh graduates. Why Internship is needed? Very simple statement is; internship is needed to enhance own capacity to excel in starting the career of a fresh graduate. An internship can help a lot in many ways to learn significant things about work life. It is a warm up field for any individual to understand whether she/he is liking the profession or not. Some intern positions are a great hub to do quality networking which may help out later on to get jobs and also in career path. After internship, wherever you apply for a job it gives the potential employer a credibility sign about you. And of course; if you perform really well during internship period, it can be the doorstep of your next job immediately! How to prepare yourself for an internship? Now you might ask, internship itself is a process to prepare an individual for profession. Then, what is there to be prepared for internship again? But, there are certain things that you must do to prepare yourself to make you eligible to get an internship even! Please focus on your CV first. Make sure you have a good and decent CV with a proper career objective which reflects directly to your desire career path that also matches with your expected internship. Do attend different types of workshop during your undergrad academic life to develop your various soft skills such as leadership, communication, presentation, interpersonal skills and so on. You can do co-curricular activities to acquire those skills easily. You need to have a good command on application software, mainly MS word, MS Excel and MS Power Point. If you are not confident enough with those, do a short course quickly. One must do thing is develop your competence in English language. Remember, your intern supervisor will be there to give you an exposure to real life job tasks not to develop your basic requirements to be a dynamic employee. How to find Internship? There are no certain rule book to find internship. But, there is one big rule try and try and try! You need to try your best to get an internship which suits your academic knowledge as well as your desire for future career. Therefore, it is always better to start looking for internship 1 semester of at least 2-3 months ahead of your intern semester. Reach out to your seniors, relatives who are working in the relevant fields or any other authentic source you have and let them know that you are looking for internship. Short list at least a good number of companies you wish to do internship. Write a proper cover letter addressing HR department, attach your updated CV and drop it. They might not offer for internship at the moment you are approaching but you never know openings can come after a few months and that will be exactly your perfect time for joining to do an internship. Paid Internship VS Unpaid Internship One dilemma might come before internship is what to choose; paid internship or unpaid one. In my opinion, it should never cloud your thought process. Remember, internship is the best time in your life to learn the basics of job. So, do not consider the payment on internship period. Rather, focus to choose the company how well organized it is and how much scope is there for you to learn as well as apply your knowledge with your learning. If considering all other vital facts; you get a paid internship thats a bonus for you. Make sure, you utilize your each day of internship as golden opportunity. Try your best to earn in terms of experience not in terms of money. Considering factors of a successful internship A successful internship does not mean only securing a job at that respective company. It has a bigger horizon than this. To do a successful internship you need to focus on a few things; such as: You need to create a positive impression about yourself to others. Be friendly and maintain a standard corporate liaison with each of the employees, supervisors, officers, managers and other management body officials you meet and get the chance to get introduced. Have an identifying behavior so that people remember you. Send thank you notes to each of your colleagues who help you during your internship period. Always show that you are eager to learn and optimistic as a person. Try to ask relevant questions whenever you do not understand things. Do not say no to any of the task you are asked for even simplest task such as making a cup of tea. Keep yourself updated with all the current news of the company such as new promotion, changing of sales technique, any personal good news of colleagues within your reach etc. always remain punctual for meetings; take note and after meeting send a meeting minutes to your supervisor even you are not asked for it. Trust me; that will help you for long run. A routine task to make your internship fruitful is to maintain contacts. Keep saving the numbers, emails whoever you come across during your internship. You do not know that you will be here after internship period or not but your contacts can be really helpful in other work station too. As you grow up and get promotion your contacts can save you in many ways; Because knowing more person is the strength of solving problems. Be grateful to the company which has allowed you to do the internship with it. Show your gratitude to each person of the company when your internship is done and you may leave. Your positive accomplishment with the company will create a high quality impression about you to the management. That impression can be a click when they need people to hire. Let your supervisor, manager and HR personnel how grateful you are to learn from them and share their knowledge with an excellent letter of thanks giving. As Benjamin Franklin said, Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. So, internship is the only process which involves you to real world of work before your struggle starts. It creates the vision of work, responsibility and develops the ability of reality check for corporate life. Therefore, it is really great if you do prepare yourself with a practice match called Internship before going to play the World Cup final of Career; isnt it? Antora Aktar Executive, Business Development, The Daily Dhakar Dak Firstly, on my observation internship experience makes me more marketable in job area. Its a crucial part of my resume. It gives me the chance to use the skills that Ive learned through my educational qualification in a real-world setting. The most important part is now I know my weakness strength for a better career path. At last I can say that as fresh graduate it helps me to stand out on my new job in a crowd competitive job market. Ms. Suraiya Ferdousi Jr. Officer, IDLC Finance Limited. In February 2015, I received the appointment letter of Internship from IDLC Financial Limited. But little did I know that Internship program in IDLC Finance would open the next chapter in my life. Yesthat internship program of my Bachelors degree opened the door of good start of my career. Will I ever be able to get a job in IDLC after internship? I thought to myself. Two months later after my internship my thought came into reality. I was called for sitting in an interview in IDLC for the position of Junior Officer. Interview was taken in two phases. After that I was selected for the position requirements and finally became the employee of the organization. It was an initial career story after my graduation. There were few ways to get me going. Some reasons I had found for the success were: Communication: It was the foremost ground for the success, Performance: Give your best shot- was the key factor behind the success, Knowledge: Knowledge about the organization made me easier to understand the work culture. I had always tried to maintain above three things and I had believed on attitude, Believe and Confidence. Arindam Saha Brand Service Executive, Bagher Bachcha Digital We live in a competitive world where finding the right job is extremely challenging without having any job experience. An internship makes this journey easier as employers are usually willing to hire interns with little or no experience due to the little or no monetary compensation. The benefits of doing an internship are great as it adds to the CV and opens the door to more opportunities in the job market. Employers are usually concerned with employees experiences more than qualifications, so internship is basically the gateway to the experience required to secure the job. Most jobs require its applicants to have an internship or relevant job experience to be qualified and in many of the competitive job markets and is important to set you apart from the rest. Md. Amirul Islam Khan Manager Employee Care Management, ZXY International For many students, academic life can be quite theoretical and an internship is their first opportunity to apply their knowledge in the real world. The experience will not only help an intern to develop the skills needed to work in the industry; working on real projects for a real organization will also give them the interpersonal skills that they need to work effectively with others and confidence in their own abilities. Networking is one of the main benefits for internship program. While it is vital to know how to perform the required tasks for a particular job, having a good set of industry contacts behind an intern can be just as vital in helping them find and secure a job after their graduation. It can help them to decide if a particular career is or isnt for them. It is like test-drive for them. If they dont enjoy the internship experience then, at the very least, it will have helped them to determine that a particular area isnt for them. Internships really are a win-win situation for everyone involved. Employers take advantage of low-cost labor and interns can have an idea of the real job market. If it is click for both, then it can be a great start! Happy internship. Maisha Farzana Media PR Executive, Rectangle Communications Ltd. For me internship is the opportunity for learning as well as developing skills for starting my professional life. I am a student of Media Studies and Journalism at ULAB. I have done my internship in Rectangle Communications. The opportunity of doing intern here is like learning the practical knowledge of my field of study. As my major is Public Relations, I have learned how Public Relations work in order to communicate. Publishing press release in online, print and electronic media and monitoring them is what I have learned is related to my study. The practical implication of PR is quite similar to what I have studied at my graduation level. I have also worked in the back end of the client service department. The part of co-ordination, keeping all the files and maintaining them, providing updates to front end client service department are some of my responsibilities My educational background as well as my skills what I have developed here helped me getting a job in Rectangle. I was assigned for different works while doing internship. The skill of working in different departments is also a reason for them hiring me. I have worked mainly in three departments. Media PR, Client Service Department and Research and Development. There are some personal qualities for which I think they have hired me as an employee. Dedication of work, following instruction, process of working, honesty, sincerity for legal and compliances and time management are, I believe, some of my personal qualities which helped me getting a job here.